


Quit Playing Games with My Heart

by XaviaAndromedovna



Category: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Movies)
Genre: (it's me I'm someone), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Body Dysphoria, F/M, Fixing the Timeline, M/M, Video Game Mechanics, basically I had the trans girl feels then story happened, bi!Fridge, no-Next Level, someone clearly studied too much psychoanalytic critical theory, time travel angst, trans!Shelly, what's a plot this is about character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23827252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XaviaAndromedovna/pseuds/XaviaAndromedovna
Summary: Alex reaches out for Nigel's hand, only for the game to glitch out and start them on a new, vaguely defined journey, leaving Bethany to deal with her new body.
Relationships: Alex Vreeke/Bethany Walker, Jefferson "Seaplane" McDonough/Sheldon "Shelly" Oberon, Spencer Gilpin/Martha Kaply, past one-sided Spencer/Fridge
Comments: 8
Kudos: 83





	Quit Playing Games with My Heart

**Author's Note:**

> gdi, this was only supposed to be like 2k tops, basically what happened was I watched this movie and Bethany as Dr. Oberon gave me a major case of the trans girl feels especially with her and Alex's whole deal and I really needed trans!Shelly so here have whatever this is, because of course I have to create a whole justification for why things are different slash Spencer/Fridge is such a ship dynamic. I haven't seen Next Level yet so I have no idea how much of this is Jossed (other than, you know, it being canon divergent), and yes I've gotten this song stuck in my head every time I've worked on this fic thank you for asking. Obvi I own nothing, also the more times I watch this movie the more uncomfortable it makes me but well here you go, have ~9k of unbetaed melodrama

When they don’t immediately get yote back to reality after screaming “JUMANJI!”, Bethany just assumes there’s a final cutscene they have to live through first. They apparate back where they first began their journey and Nigel is there to greet them. He reaches out a hand to shake, but just as Alex moves to grab it, Nigel freezes—not just Nigel but the trees of the jungle and the sound of the animals. The entire world comes to a halt.

They look at each other in a panic, but before they can register what’s happening the world resumes its usual motion. Nigel though has reset to a more neutral position. “Welcome to Jumanji! I’ve been so anxious for your arrival. As you know Jumanji is in grave danger: we’re counting on the four of you to—well that’s strange,” he corrects with a confused look. “I brought you here to restore the jewel and lift the curse, but it seems to have been done already.”

“Yep,” Spencer confirms, panic evident in his voice. “We’ve already done the thing, you were about to send us home.”

“Nonsense!” Nigel smiles at them jovially, which makes it all the more sinister. “You’ve just arrived! I’m sure there’s a few things around here that could benefit from your expertise.” The doors of the Jeep spring open and Nigel heads for the driver’s seat. “Hop in and I’ll drive you to camp so we can regroup.”

Bethany doesn’t begin to panic then either. Clearly there’s just another part to the game they haven’t finished yet. There’s nothing to worry about.

Nigel starts talking almost the instant they start moving. “Since we might need you to accomplish a variety of tasks, you will find yourselves being able to navigate the jungle in more ways than before. I also recommend getting reacquainted with yourselves, as new information might become relevant.” Bethany looks to Spencer to see if he’s following, and he must be if the way he pats his body is any indication. At least one of them knows what’s going on. Nigel is quiet a moment, but before anyone can ask a question, he continues quietly. “I must warn you, while the jungle itself is much more peaceful now that the jewel has been restored, you might find that too long spent here is… detrimental. You wouldn’t want to get sick and not be able to leave.”

“What do you mean ‘sick’?”

Nigel grips the steering wheel tighter but his disposition is cheerful as ever. “Jungle fever. You all seem healthy and I imagine you’ve received the proper vaccinations, but it does happen sometimes that play—that adventurers such as yourself succumb to the wiles of Jumanji. However, I’m confident we’ll find a way to get some use out of you so you can be on your merry ways.” Bethany looks over at the others who share her concern: Nigel is seriously shook, which is strange for an NPC. And he almost called them ‘players’. If they _even_ broke the game…

That’s the moment Bethany starts to think they might be in over their heads.

The Jeep pulls over at a campsite and Nigel corrals the players out of it. He looks over at Spencer. “My, what an interesting tattoo you have there, Dr. Bravestone!” They each look at their wrists, and mercifully, all of them are back to three lives. Hooray for small miracles. “Hearty individuals indeed!” He leads them to a large tent that seems better-furnished than the rest. “We’ve set up a place for you to collect yourselves and act as a sort of ‘home base’ for you. Night is coming soon, so I encourage you not to stray too far from camp just yet.” He seems about to say something else, then turns on his heel and leaves them to their own devices.

“What the fuck…” Fridge finally lets out, and Bethany can’t help but agree.

“You all saw that, right?” Martha looks around at them with wide, quickly darting eyes. “Nigel was acting seriously weird.”

“Not just weird,” Alex adds. “Worried. I think he’s just as alarmed as we are that we haven’t left yet.”

“But how can that be,” Bethany wonders aloud. “I thought he was just an NPC?”

Martha starts pacing while Spencer and Fridge settle into bamboo chairs. Bethany realizes a little too late how close she’s standing to Alex but to move now would be weird. “No idea, but if even _he_ doesn’t know our objective? Like how is this possible?”

“Sometimes,” replies Spencer, “open-world or sandbox games let you continue playing after finishing the main storyline,” Spencer explains. “That way you can explore other facets or complete side quests.”

“Man,” Fridge interjects, “I don’t wanna finish no side quests, I want to go home!”

Alex puts a sympathetic hand on Fridge’s shoulder. “Well until then, we need to survive the night. Thankfully we got all our lives back; what was he saying about ‘getting reaquainted’, you think that means our stats changed?”

Spencer pulls up his menu with a press of his well-defined left pec. “Oh wow, I’ll say! The originals are still there but there’s a lot more vectors now.”

Bethany pulls up her own menu along with everyone else and they eagerly pore over the new information. Her previous strengths have been renamed Abilities and under Weaknesses instead of Endurance it says “Self-Esteem”. Ouch. Endurance is further down the page with a bar next to it, followed by other things like Speed, Agility, Constitution… there’s way more information than Bethany’s sure she can remember. “What do you think these bars mean? I still have low endurance?”

Spencer glances over at hers. “Yeah, the further to the right the green part, the better your stat in that category. Hey, maybe those are changeable now?”

Martha’s is showing a big long paragraph. “Oh wow, okay so we have backstories now. Why aren’t these in our memories like the other—” Suddenly, Martha gasps and freezes, her eyes glossed over.

Spencer runs up to her in alarm. “Martha? Are you okay?!”

After an excruciatingly long moment where she wasn’t responding, Martha shakes herself out of it. “Whoa. Nevermind, I just had the most detailed flashback of my life… or, someone else’s life I guess.”

Well, she should probably get that over with now. Bethany touches the icon that looks like a book and begins reading. Visions soon appear: people in Victorian dress (her parents— _his_ parents…), boarding school, being teased by the boys, focusing on _his_ studies, attention from the girl down the street (unrequited), Bachelor’s, Master’s, PhD, an entire lifetime of knowledge, an entire lifetime of feeling like something’s missing but having no idea what it could be. She comes to with a start.

Fridge chimes in from where he’s already lying down, looking beat. “What do you think Nigel meant by ‘getting sick’. Alex, have you ever gotten jungle fever?” 

“No, though it’s possible it was recently added. It felt to me more like he was trying to warn us about something else but only had NPC dialogue to work with.”

“Yeah, that’s the impression I got,” Spencer concurs. “You’ve been here forever and it never seemed to bother him, right? But maybe it’s because you’re not waiting for us anymore.”

“So you’re thinking this is a timed thing?”

“I really hope not,” Spencer replies with a smoldering, far-off stare.

Bethany forgets how differently time operates here until she realizes it’s dark and she’s suddenly bone tired. “Well we’re not gonna figure it out tonight. Maybe we should rest up and deal with it fresh tomorrow?”

”Bethany’s right,” Martha agrees with a small smile. “Who knows what Jumanji will throw at us in the morning.” 

~~~

Their first night in what Spencer keeps calling the expansion pack brings little sleep. Bethany wakes up with a crick in her neck and a suspiciously itchy ankle, which turns out to be a particularly nasty mosquito bite ~~hopefully it’s just a mosquito~~.

A mosquito—which could instantly kill Seaplane. Bethany shoots up in bed and looks around frantically, only calming when she sees Alex sleeping soundly. She decides to get up and find some breakfast, which has already been begun by the other three in their group. Alex follows a few minutes later, and they all talk about nothing, putting off the potentially disheartening and likely disturbing conversation about what to do now that they’re stuck here indefinitely. Eventually though, as time drags on, the topic inevitably turns to the glitch.

“What if we’re stuck in here another twenty years until some other kid finds us?”

“Unlikely,” Alex answers. “You remember the title screen, there were only five characters.”

Spencer looks up suddenly. “The start screen.”

“Yeah, there was a bunch of animals and it said press Start… or, wait a minute, before that there was an intro sorta thing. It was a phrase from the instructions on the box.”

“There was a box?!” Fridge gesticulates widely. “With _instructions_???”

“Yeah but I… didn’t really read them too closely,” Alex admits sheepishly. “It was something like, ‘a game for…’”

“ _A game for those who seek to find a way to leave their world behind,_ ” they manage to remember between the five of them. It never occurred to them until now to take it literally. Bethany starts thinking out loud. “What if it means one of us isn’t ready to go back to the real world yet?”

“Well it sure as hell ain’t me,” Fridge retorts. “I’d much rather be there than living in a damn video game.”

Martha stands up, pacing. “I don’t think that’s what Bethany meant. Maybe it’s like an unfinished business sort of thing. This game clearly isn’t operating on regular rules of physics, so maybe it doesn’t appear for just anyone.”

Alex looks up at her solemnly. “You mean we didn’t choose it, it chose us.”

“I think I mean both,” she realizes. “The game appeared to us because we wanted an escape, and we took it. I mean it’s like Nigel said, if we stay too long we could get stuck here. He made it sound like we chose to continue on past the mission.”

“So, what,” Fridge counters. “It’s a _Wizard of Oz_ situation, we just click our heels because the way home was with us the whole time?”

Martha ignores his sarcasm. “In a way, but only in the sense that Dorothy didn’t know that’s what the heels were for. She had to go through the adventure to figure out what was stopping her for herself.”

Bethany perks up in relief. “So we just have to convince it we’ve learned our lesson and are ready to go home?”

“But the only way to do that is figure out why we left in the first place.”

“I think it’s my fault.” The team turns their eyes to Spencer, quiet regret a strange look on the muscle-bound avatar. “Before Nigel glitched out, there was a brief moment I wanted to stay here, so I could stay like this.” He indicates his larger body and the benefits that come with it. Of course Spencer would want to stay, he’s the only one who has literally zero weaknesses.

“You what?!” Fridge storms up to him before remembering the last time he tried to use his new body to square off against his friend. “What the hell, Spencer! We’re stuck here because you’re insecure?”

“It wasn’t just him,” Martha adds in a loud rush. She closes her eyes as they gawk at her. “I had a similar thought, that maybe once we all got out things would go back to the way they were. I was afraid maybe I’d lose you guys.”

“You wouldn’t lose us,” Bethany assures her.

“But I would,” Alex responds, voice gravelly. It hits Bethany what he means just before it comes out of his mouth. “There’s no guarantee the game would spit me out with you guys, it could very well just send me back to 1996.”

“Alex,” Bethany whispers sadly, laying a hand on his shoulder. He shrugs it off in dejection.

“I tried to shake his hand first, which means I’m the one that glitched Nigel out and ruined your chances to get out of here.”

“I don’t get it,” Fridge says, taking a tentative step towards him. “Of any of us you should have been the most eager to leave.”

“That was before I learned 20 years had passed. If I end up in 2017 with you guys, I’m completely adrift in the future, and if I go back to the 90s, I go back to a life I barely remember anymore before you were even born. It’s… I dunno, maybe it’s better for me if I just stay here.”

It shakes something in Bethany’s entire being to hear him talk like that, but before she can reply Nigel pops in urgently. “Ah, there you are! I seem to have found use for you after all, do come with me please!”

The five reluctant adventurers follow Nigel to a table with books and charts and maps that are even a little advanced for Bethany’s new skill set. Spencer asks the question when Nigel says nothing. “So what’s the mission, Nigel?”

“Well, it seems that Van Pelt still has his loyal followers here and is terrorizing the locals. We need you to figure out what they’re after.”

The gang stare at him blankly. Martha responds first. “That’s it? That’s all we have to go on?”

Nigel pulls out a map and hands it to Bethany. “Here you are Dr. Oberon. I’ve taken the liberty of repairing your map. This should help you with your newest journey. As for the task itself, you should begin here: _A missing piece and extra piece turn out to be the same. Unlock the strengths within yourselves and call Jumanji’s name._ What do you say, chaps—and lady—are you up for the challenge?”

Fridge walks up to Nigel. “I don’t know about these guys, but I need to go home. I’m ready.”

“Ah of course,” Nigel says with relief, “you have been called elsewhere for your next great adventure. Well, dearest Mouse, it has been a pleasure.” The guide extends his hand, but as Fridge goes to take it, the game freezes up again. Nigel resets. “What do you say, chaps—and lady—are you up for the challenge?”

Fridge sits down in shock. He’s not ready to leave either.

“We accept,” Spencer answers quickly. “Is there anything else you can tell us?”

Nigel smiles tightly. “I’m sure you’ll want to get started right away!”

In other words, _hurry_.

~~~

The updated map includes all the old levels plus their new base camp, and right in the center is Alan Parrish’s hideout. Nothing of interest has appeared in the previously-missing corner yet, so they decide to pick up some supplies Alex has lying around at Alan’s.

Fridge is reclining on a cot, tossing the ebony elephant figurine and catching it absently. “Hey, who do you think Alan Parrish was? Do you think Nigel would know?”

“If he does, he’s not talking,” Alex answers. “When I asked he started to answer then reverted to his NPC dialogue. All he said was that Alan was here first.” He runs the blender a couple seconds with a thoughtful face, and by the time he turns it off he has an idea. “Van Pelt would definitely know though.”

Martha perks up from where she’s sharpening knives. “What makes you say that?”

“I dunno, there’s something wonky about that guy, the other NPCs are fairly rigid but I always got the impression Van Pelt remembered our interactions.”

“Well that sucks,” Fridge muses, “seeing as he dissolved into a pile of rats.”

“Yeah can we talk about that? Because I have several questions.” Not the least of which is which came first: the rats or Van Pelt?

“So do I,” Martha concurs. “I think the most pressing is whether he’s really dead, because if he is, then who knows what the henchman are up to, but if he’s not…”

“If he’s not,” Spencer smolders, “we need to find him before he can get the jewel back.”

Fridge sits up and glares at Spencer. “So you want to find a singular rat, in the jungle.”

“Or worse, a collection of rats that are all him, yes that’s what I’m saying.”

“I hate this game.” Eternal mood.

“So do we start with trying to find Van Pelt, or do we try and figure out the clue first?”

“Both,” Alex says decisively as he stands. “We can figure the clue out on the way.”

“On the way where?”

Alex looks at Bethany and she tries not to blush. “Bethany?”

She shakes herself out of her staring back at Alex and pulls out the map. “Hmm… nothing new seems to be here. Think we should try the bazaar again?”

“Might as well,” Martha considers. “If anything, we can gather up more supplies. Besides, Nigel did say they were terrorizing the locals, and as far as I know those are the only ‘locals’ we have.”

Having reached a consensus, the five set out for the marketplace. Despite their talk about ‘discussing it on the way’, after five minutes no one has said a word. Bethany decides to break the ice. “ _A missing piece and extra piece turn out to be the same. Unlock the strengths within yourselves and call Jumanji’s name._ Well, I dunno about the first part, but the second part sounds like what we were talking about before Nigel gave us our mission.”

Spencer looks at her quizzically. “It does?”

“Yeah, I mean at least from what you and Martha and Alex told us, the leading theory is that your insecurities about leaving Jumanji are what’s stopping you. We need to build up your inner strength so you can leave.”

“And what exactly is my ‘insecurity’ about leaving?” Fridge asks frostily.

“You tell us, dude,” Alex responds softly.

He makes an abortive noise then school’s his features. “Pass.”

“Okay, here’s my question,” Martha says, changing the subject. “If the game is able to adapt to accommodate us, why didn’t it just change the main quest? If it’s entire purpose is to prepare us to return to our regular lives, why did it glitch out?”

“That’s a good point,” Spencer concedes thoughtfully, unsuccessfully hiding his fond smile. “There must have been some variable it didn’t take into account before.”

“Like what?”

“Okay, hold on, lemme talk it out…” Spencer huffs, deep in thought. His breathing is steady as he climbs the steep incline that winds the rest of them (some more than others, Bethany laments). “We’re unhappy about our regular lives and attract the game to us. The game ‘helps’ us fit into our regular lives. So the initial problem is solved. The only way it wouldn’t be solved is if a new problem arose in-game that changed the reason for being here, not wanting to play Jumanji but wanting to _stay_ in Jumanji.

“I wasn’t ready to part with my new body and skill set; even though the game taught me to be brave and whatever, I couldn’t be sure that was actually me or just a product of the situation. I’m still not…”

The rest of the group is silent for a moment, partially to catch their breath at the top of the hill and partially out of respect for Spencer’s confession. After a bit, Martha walks up to him and puts a hand on his shoulder. “I dunno, I think saying that is pretty brave. And the only way to know if it’ll carry over is to find out. C’mon, Spencer, I like you, but I refuse to let our first date be in Jumanji. Like is it just me, or is this game lowkey racist?”

“D-date?” Martha blushes slightly but nods. “Okay, yeah, I’m ready, Nigel, get me out of here!”

The group laughs, half-hopeful that it really was that simple but knowing there was still a long journey ahead. It actually isn’t that much further to the bazaar, and when they arrive they decide to split up to cover more ground and meet up again later at the sewer passage. Martha sets off on her own, wanting to stock up on weapons. Alex and Bethany silently agree to go off together, but Fridge makes a point of following Spencer “in case he needs his stuff or whatever”. As she and Alex move away from the others, they can hear Spencer screaming “MOTHERLODE” over and over in the middle of the market. Nothing happens. “Oh well, it was worth a shot.”

Alex and Bethany are absently looking through clothes when she finds a cute skirt. She’s about to try it on before she remembers. Alex sees her put it back down dejectedly. “So we all know why I’m still here. What brings you to Jumanji Hell, Bethany?”

She has her suspicions, but she doesn’t want to make him feel worse than she knows he already does. “Let’s move on and circle back to me later. I will say I’m more than eager to get out of this body.”

“Really?” He smirks and it’s honestly not fair how cute he is. Although he’s also just an avatar, so who knows what he looks like irl. Knowing her luck he’s just as gorgeous out there. “I gotta say, you took to the guy thing pretty seamlessly.”

Anything she wants to say gets stuck in her throat. She goes back to examining the merchant’s wares. He puts a hand on top of hers. “Hey, sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She squeezes his hand in return then releases it. She doesn’t want to watch his reaction to what she has to ask next so she looks at the larger skirts for reasons she doesn’t want to articulate. “Does it bother you?”

“What, you looking like a guy or you being a girl?”

“Both, I guess.”

He stills her hands with one of his and raises her chin with the other so she can see his warm brown eyes. “Bethany, I don’t care. I know you’re a girl, that’s enough for me. For us,” he amends quickly.

“Thank you,” she whispers, every fiber in her being wanting to kiss him but still plagued by doubts in the back of her head. Noah would have turned tail as soon as they got to Jumanji, but Alex is truly a gentleman. Which makes it all the harder to leave. And she _needs_ to leave. “But it’s not enough for me. Sure, this was fun for a bit but if I have to live like this indefinitely… I have to get out of here.”

He lets go of her but leans his shoulder into hers as they resume examining the clothes half-heartedly. “Then talk to Nigel,” he adds with clearly forced calm. “Maybe you can convince him that you’re ready to leave.”

She glances over at him. “You mean by myself?”

“It’s worth a shot.”

She turns to him fully. “And what if you’re locked in here for another 20 years because there’s a piece missing?”

“I’m fine with that.”

This time it’s her turn to make him look. “Yeah, well I’m definitely not fine with that. I’m staying, whether you like it or not, because we’re getting you out of here. Which means I’m here, whether _I_ like it or not, and since it’s not, then I guess I need to find a way to live in this body.”

“Are all girls in the future badasses or just you and Martha?”

“All girls period,” she grins with a pat on his head. She grabs a muumuu and asks the shopkeeper if there’s a changing room. If he finds it odd he keeps it to himself; the NPCs probably aren’t programmed to be transphobic, which is a small miracle.

Trans. She’s trans in this world. It suddenly hits her the uphill battle she’ll be fighting just to do the things she takes for granted back home. She knows exactly one trans person, and she doesn’t know all that much about what attitudes about trans people were in the 1990s (she suspects not great). Alex seems to have taken her being a girl in stride though. He really is a great guy, which is kinda the problem.

She adjusts the dress in the mirror and she wants to cry because this isn’t her body. She allows herself all of ten seconds to wallow, then comes to the realization that this _is_ in fact her body, for however long she’s stuck here, and she’s gonna mold it into something she can live in. It’s gonna be a lot of unlearning and relearning, but on the bright side, it’ll give her something to focus on besides why she doesn’t want to leave.

She gets back into Shelly’s standard attire and exits the dressing room with a mission. She grabs a similar dress in the same size, a couple skirts, and some blouses, handing the merchant four gold coins she found in her pockets. “C’mon,” she says as she grabs Alex’s hand and leads him to the other stalls, where she grabs a straight razor, shaving soap, some charcoal, and some berries. She vaguely remembers her trans friend talking about soy, so she picks up some soybeans as well.

“You really should consider leaving me,” Alex says quietly as they make their way to the rendezvous. “It’s the only way out of here.”

She glares at him. “Did we not just solve this five minutes ago?”

“Think about it. _A missing piece and extra piece turn out to be the same._ I’m the missing piece, which means I’m also the extra piece. I… I got attached to you guys just in the short time you’ve been here, but I’m not part of your group. Not on the outside. And if you want to get back outside then you have to part ways with me.”

The frustration at Alex’s self-pity washes over her with an intensity that shoves out what she’d been trying to keep stuffed down deep inside her. “You’re the reason I’m still here!”

The passersby in the marketplace look at her funny for a second before resuming their business. Alex looks surprised and hurt at her outburst. “Y-yeah, that’s what I’m saying…”

“No, I mean I was ready to go. If I had shaken Nigel’s hand I know I would have left, but I can’t do that now because you need me here. Don’t you get it? I _can’t_ leave without you because you staying here is why I’m stuck here.” He gapes at her open-mouthed, tears threatening to mar his cheeks. “I’ve grown attached to you too, and knowing that you’re scared to leave—I can’t get out of here until I know you’re going to be okay, regardless of where you or I end up. And you staying here, alone and miserable, is _not_ okay.” It turns out she starts crying first.

“Bethany,” he starts, “I—"

Just then Fridge bumps into them alone, seemingly just as upset but the three of them school their expressions and dry their tears. “Hey guys,” Fridge covers. “How was your bazaar trip?” Glad for the distraction, she explains her project to him and he taps into his vast zoology knowledge to tell her he might have something to help, but refuses to tell her what it is other than a hormone supplement. “Trust me, it’s better if you just take it without thinking too hard about it.”

Martha and Spencer join them, and with no bikers in sight, they return to Alan’s hideout. As soon as Bethany gets there, she monopolizes the bathtub. She figures out how to create a lather from the shaving soap, fishes out the razor, and shaves off as much body hair as she can without cutting herself on the sharp single blade. She sharpens the charcoal and draws a crisp wing of eyeliner. She crushes the berries and stains her lips with them. She puts on one of the dresses, and while it’s a little hard without the correct undergarments (which might require her to get creative because the game didn’t seem too keen on providing those) she manages to pull off a look that makes her feel a little more at home in her body. When she emerges, her four new friends loudly and enthusiastically congratulate her on a job well done. Alex especially looks at her with an expression she doesn’t want to read too much into.

It’s getting dark (even though it only feels like they’ve been up a couple of hours), so they decide to call it a night. As she settles in, Bethany thinks she hears a rustling near her, but she hears a lot of noises in the jungle so she ignores it and goes to sleep. In the morning, she is relieved to find that her changes to her avatar have not been reset, which makes this slightly less of a struggle. Alex comes up to her a bit awkwardly and hands her a piece of paper.

“Here’s your map back.”

She looks at him quizzically. “Why did you take my map?”

“I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to get your hopes up in case it didn’t work, and I don’t want you thinking I don’t still like you like this.”

Her heart stops. “Like me?”

“Yeah,” he can’t help but smile. “Sorry, maybe should have led with that.”

“You really should have, but it’s okay because I like you too.”

“Well alright then,” he beams.

She remembers how they got to this point in the conversation. “What didn’t you want to tell me?”

“I talked to Nigel. He’s heard rumors of a fountain, kinda like the fountain of youth, but that changes your appearance.”

Spencer walks in and plops down. “Oh, you mean like a checkpoint to customize your avatar, cool!”

“Please tell me you’re serious.”

“Dead serious,” he confirms. “I’d point out where it is but as you know I can’t read the map.”

Sure enough, marked in the restored corner is the Mystical Fountain. It’s less than a day’s hike from Alan’s, and it’s not like they’ve got any other leads on what they’re supposed to do. “Who’s up for a trip?”

“Alright,” Spencer whoops, “side quest!”

~~~

By whatever cruel fate governs Jumanji, their supposed side quest gets interrupted by the plot about 30 minutes into their excursion. Those damn drums return, eliciting a collective groan from the group. The hum of motorcycles can be heard rapidly approaching. The group breaks out into a run, Fridge and Bethany lagging behind. Spencer changes tactics and runs back up to Fridge, ready for a fight. “Fridge and I will hold them off, maybe they’ll lead us to Van Pelt. You guys run, we’ll catch up!”

“Spencer, no!”

He gives Martha a devastatingly handsome smirk and returns to the task at hand. Bethany, Alex, and Martha run into the forest and pause to catch their breaths.

“Do you think they made it?”

“I think we’d be able to see if they didn’t,” Alex replies with a macabre look into the sky.

“Should we wait for them?” Just then the sound of motorbikes starts getting louder. “Nevermind, let’s keep going. Where to, Bethany?”

She leads them into a dense part of the jungle where the thick canopy blocks out nearly all of the sun. Guided by Alex’s torch, they keep going until Bethany hears the sound of running water. “Look!” The fountain shines like it’s made of polished silver, visible through the mouth of a spacious cave. As they enter, they see the fountain feed into a large reflecting pool. “How does it work?”

“I’m guessing you just touch it?”

As Bethany approaches the fountain, she looks at herself in the pool’s reflection. For the first time, she doesn’t see the differences from her real body. She sees the curves that have started to redistribute on the makeshift hormones Fridge gave her this morning (gotta love game logic). She sees the ingenuity of her makeup skills in less-than-ideal conditions. She sees the fashions she was able to bring together from scraps in the bazaar. And she knows now the main reason she wasn’t ready to go back. It wasn’t just empathy for others she needed to learn; she needed to learn to be kinder to herself.

“You know what,” she muses. “I think Shelly’s better off a trans woman. She’s already beautiful.”

“What?”

“Bethany, are you sure?”

“My beauty isn’t how well I approximate some unattainable ideal of womanhood. My beauty is how resiliently I carve out a space for myself despite everything working against me. I fought for every shred of femininity I have in this place. I think it would be a shame to erase all that now. Don’t you?”

“You’re damn right I do,” Alex says from right next to her. How’d he get there so fast without her noticing?

“Attagirl,” Martha contributes warmly.

“Besides,” Bethany adds, eyes only for Alex. “Shelly’s already got her man, the dashing Seaplane McDonough. Doesn’t she?”

“She does.”

When they kiss, it’s only slightly more practiced than Martha and Spencer’s but it still makes Bethany nervous and flighty and giddy and so many more emotions than can fit in her chest. As they pull apart, breathless, they are greeted with whoops and a relieved sigh from… Fridge! “Thank the good fucking Lord, can we go home now?”

“Fridge! Spencer! You found us!”

“Yeah, it took three days but we got here.”

“Three days?” Martha inquires. “We’ve been here like three minutes.”

“The fountain’s probably not linked to the clock because it’s essentially a menu.”

“That’s great and all, but can we talk about that back at the hideout where there’s a fire and a bed?”

The five adventurers set off to return to Alan’s, both Spencer and Martha and Bethany and Alex hand-in-hand. Bethany releases Alex with a kiss on the cheek and falls back to talk to Fridge, who’s quieter than usual but seemingly much calmer than the last time they ran into each other. “How’re you doing?”

“I’m fine, just tired of carrying this damn bag.”

“I can carry it for you for a bit.”

“Nah, then what would I complain about?” he smirks. “How’re you doing, now that you and your little friend have finally talked it out?”

Bethany blushes. “We’re good, I mean it’s a little weird, but I’m trying not to think about that.”

“Or the fact it’ll have to end,” he adds, pointedly but gently.

She looks at him, then averts her eyes. “Or that.”

“Are you ready to let that go?”

“When the time comes, yeah.”

“Well that might be soon. I’ll explain when we get there, but I think we’re close.”

True to his word, when they arrive back and get a fire going, Fridge calls for their attention. “Hey everyone, umm, so we’ve all been trying to figure out our truths, why we’re still here, and I think it’s time to speak mine, now that I’ve already worked it out with Spencer. See he and I used to be best friends for a long time, but then we stopped, and I guess didn’t wanna leave Jumanji because on some level I was afraid to lose him again. I’d already pushed him away once before, but being here brought up a lot of old shit, and not having him in my life anymore is not something I wanna go back to, just because I can’t deal with my feelings. So. I guess what I’m saying is, I’m bi.”

Not what she was expecting the issue to be, but good for him. “Well, alright then,” Alex contributes in mild shock.

“Just to be clear,” Martha interjects, “do you still feel that way about him?”

“Nonono,” Fridge assures her. “I’ve always known I didn’t have a chance, that was the problem. But that’s old news, you’re good to go!”

Martha smiles at him in obvious relief. Bethany puts a hand on his shoulder. “I’m proud of you, Fridge.”

He smiles at her gratefully then clears his throat. “Okay, that’s enough touchy-feely stuff for me. Spencer, wanna tell them what we found out about Van Pelt?”

The three who missed that adventure perk up. “You found him?”

“Not exactly,” Spencer qualifies, “but we do know he’s still alive, because the bikers were talking about heading back and awaiting his instructions. We followed their trail for a while and we’re pretty sure we know where their new headquarters is. But that’s not even the exciting part—Fridge, tell ‘em what you found!”

“Okay, so when we got back here y’all were still at the fountain, so we rested for a bit. Y’know how I’ve been fiddling with the elephant piece sometimes just for something to do with my hands? Well I dropped it once and it landed in a corner, and I couldn’t find it, and Spencer joked about it being a ‘missing piece,’ and I realized that it’s also an extra piece: turns out the elephant was Alan’s token when it was a board game.”

“Well, we didn’t know that part yet,” Spencer continues. “But we did know it didn’t make sense to have it with the note if it wasn’t significant, so we looked around the campsite for any clue to why this elephant might be important.”

Fridge walks over to one of chests and places the elephant carving in the lock, where it fits perfectly. The chest opens with a click when he turns it. The group gathers around to see what was inside. “This chest has Alan’s diaries, his theories, all sorts of information about Jumanji. We read through some of the highlights, but we didn’t get through all of it before we realized y’all had been gone a while. Maybe we can find something to help us.”

Martha picks up a journal and sits down. “What do you have so far?”

“Alan Parrish got stuck here in 1969, and he’s from Brantford.”

Alex perks up from where he too has taken a stack of loose papers. “Wait, Parrish. As in the shoe company?”

“Exactly.”

“Anything about Van Pelt?”

“Was there ever! Apparently when Jumanji was a board game, he used to be a poacher who hunted humans. He was constantly chasing Alan around the jungle.”

“That explains why this place was majorly booby trapped when I moved here…”

The five of them settle in and delve into the strange, lonely life of Alan Parrish. _No matter how much I try to get rid of this damn elephant, it always returns. I’ve tried burning it, tossing it into the jungle, tossing it in the river, burying it—I can’t shake it. I guess it’s probably because it’s a part of me, it’s my link to the game. …_ She looks to the figurine, held loosely in Fridge’s hand, then down at the drawing on the opposite page. He’s been protecting them this entire time. “Do you think he got out?”

“Yeah,” Alex answers. “When I asked about the hideout Nigel said Alan had no use for it anymore.”

“But does that mean he got out or he got _taken_ out?”

“Wow, Martha, kinda dark. Though I suppose there’s no way of knowing either way.”

“Okay, now I have a question,” Fridge interjects. “So this is a videogame, right, so it has to create a bunch of characters, okay, cool. But Van Pelt wasn’t created for the videogame, he was already in Jumanji when it was a board game. Are there any other records of people being here in his stuff?”

“Not that I see,” Spencer confirms.

“Alright now I don’t know how this board game worked, but why would it need to create Van Pelt in the first place? I mean, wouldn’t it be easier to just let Alan be alone in the jungle?”

“What are you saying, Fridge?”

“Well, if we assume Van Pelt was here before Nigel, before Alan even, how did he get here and why?”

“Wait,” Alex joins in. “Do you think that’s what Nigel meant by ‘jungle fever’? You stay so long you become part of the game itself?”

“I really hope not,” Bethany responds. “Because that is several layers of disturbing.” She looks out into the jungle where night is falling. “But I think we should head back to basecamp and talk to Nigel tomorrow and see if we can get him to tell us anything about Van Pelt.”

“And if not,” Spencer smolders, “we ask Van Pelt himself.”

~~~

Incidentally, Van Pelt finds them first.

They have only a minute to prepare when “The Confrontation” appears at their location on the map to the beating of drums, but the motorbikes come and go without so much as a nod in their direction. Just then however, they hear the incessant squeaking of rats. The rats start clumping together in front of them, gradually forming a body. “Oh God,” Fridge gags. “He really is a rat king, isn’t he?”

Van Pelt stretches out his neck and stands before where the five are hiding. “I know you’re out there, Bravestone. I just want to talk.”

Spencer reluctantly but decisively reveals himself. “What do you want?”

“I could ask you the same thing. Why are you still here, sniffing around Jumanji?”

“I figured there was some unfinished business. Looks like I was right.”

Van Pelt takes this as a cue to lunge at Spencer, who narrowly avoids him but begins the fight in earnest with a punch to the stomach. As Spencer takes hold of him, he dissolves again and disperses. Spencer turns around in all directions, trying to keep track of the fleeing rodents. “Show yourself! I’ve got a couple questions I wanna ask you.” The sound of rats scurrying is just loud enough to be unnerving but not so loud as to give away their position. “Starting with what you remember about Alan Parrish.”

The squeaking stops. The group looks around at each other, then Bethany gasps when she sees a form growing behind Alex. “Look out!”

Alex turns around just as Van Pelt rematerializes. There has to be a way to keep him still. As they talk, Bethany slowly makes her way over to Fridge’s position. “Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while.”

“So you do remember him,” Alex continues where Spencer left off. “You remember a lot of things, don’t you? A lot more than everyone else in this jungle except us.”

“Except you,” Van Pelt confirms with a glint in his eye.

Spencer glances over to see Bethany’s progress towards Fridge and takes over the interrogation to draw Van Pelt’s attention away from her. “Who are you really?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Van Pelt taunts as he lashes out at Alex. Two on one should give them the advantage, but Van Pelt is adept at working them against each other. Spencer nearly decks Alex before they regroup.

Bethany sidles up next to Fridge. “I have an idea. Do you have anything in there like a tarp, or a net?”

“Probably,” Fridge says, rummaging around in the bag. He produces a large piece of canvas. “Gotta love Mary Poppins backpack.” Catching onto their plan, Martha goes into Ruby Roundhouse mode while Fridge and Bethany set the trap. When it’s strung and greased, they ‘hide’ as Martha latches onto Van Pelt. He struggles to get out of her embrace, then becomes rats again. The three fighters corral the rats towards Fridge and Bethany, and when she feels him materialize behind her, Fridge shouts: “NOW!”

Bethany tosses back an elbow, hoping it catches him, which it does if the sound of a nose breaking is any indication. Alex, Spencer, and Martha push him into the trap and he goes flying into the air. The tarp thrashes as a solid mass turns to a squeaking scrabble turns back into an exasperated man who pops his head angrily over the lip. “Now,” Spencer gloats, “where were we?”

Alex takes a firm step forward. “Who are you?”

Van Pelt looks at him with a cruel grin. “I think the more interesting question is who are you, _Alex_?” His jaw drops in shock at Van Pelt’s acknowledgement, a sentiment shared by the others. He’s not a part of the game. “Do you even know why you’re here? Have you figured it out yet?”

“I—I was afraid to go back out there, without them.”

“No, that’s why you’re _still_ here. Why did Jumanji choose you?”

Bethany grips his hand but he barely acknowledges her, stammering out a bewildered, “I—I don’t—I don’t kno—“

”LOOK AT ME!”

Alex looks at Van Pelt in confused fear before recognition becomes clear on his face. “Uncle Russell?”

“Who am I?”

“You… you died.”

“Does that scare you?”

It’s around this point that Bethany feels like she’s intruding on a private moment. The chances of this actually being his uncle are extremely unlikely, but the implication that this is all just a projection of Alex’s issues is its own type of terrifying. He grips her hand tighter. “You… he got sick because… a few years before I… he was just living his life and then…”

“Well I’m here now, Alex. Ditch them and stay here with me.”

“What?”

“There’s nothing for you out there. Stay in Jumanji.”

Alex looks down at the ground, lost in thought. “Alex—“

He looks up then and kisses her softly. “It’s okay, Bethany, I got this.” Alex lets go of her hand and goes up to the rope keeping Van Pelt in the tree. He begins untying the knot.

Spencer runs up to stop him. “What are you doing?! Alex, you can’t go with him.”

Alex smiles softly at them as the tarp lowers. “I’ll be fine.”

“DON’T”!

On solid ground, Van Pelt dislodges himself from the trap then with a superhuman might pushes Spencer out of the way. He and Alex regard each other for a moment, then embrace. A blinding green light pulses around them, and in a flash, Van Pelt has been transformed into a young boy, wearing weirdly Victorian garb. The boy runs off into the jungle.

Bethany nearly cries in relief when she sees Alex still standing there, a sad peace permeating him. They all run up to him and dissolve into a group hug. “I thought we’d lost you for good.”

“I blamed him, subconsciously,” Alex explains in a small voice. “I thought he was reckless and selfish, but he couldn’t have known what would happen to him, and he shouldn’t have had to live in complete fear of ever doing anything.” There’s a piece missing in this explanation Bethany quite can’t place, but she decides not to press the issue. “Which is what I’ve been doing. There’s no way of knowing the consequences of my decisions unless I actually make them, right?”

“So are we finally going home?”

“Let’s find out!”

“JUMANJI!”

~~~

When they appear at the beginning once again, Nigel is there to greet them. One by one, Spencer, Martha, and Fridge hug Alex tightly and promise that he’ll always have friends in 2017. Spencer is first to approach Nigel, shaking his hand firmly. There is a collective sigh of relief when their hands make contact and the form of Dr. Bravestone disintegrates. Nigel sends off Mouse and Ruby Roundhouse, leaving two unlikely avatars saying a tearful goodbye.

“Dr. Oberon,” Nigel calls. “Will you be leaving as well?”

“Absolutely, can I just have a moment to say goodbye first?”

“Of course, I would never dare rush a lady.” He winks. “I’ll be by the Jeep when you’re ready.”

Bethany and Alex share a look of surprise as Nigel walks away. “Did he just—“

“Okay no, I can’t handle any more weirdness; I’m just gonna assume this is a particularly memorable version of Seaplane and Shelly’s characters.”

Alex chuckles “Yeah, though the NPCs did seem to take the surprise romance in stride.”

“Who would have guessed the professor and the pilot would be endgame?”

“I really hope no one ever has to play this after us, but if they do, I highly doubt something like this will happen again.”

Bethany puts her arms around Alex’s neck. “Yeah, in a way, they’re saying goodbye as well, aren’t they?”

Alex puts his forehead against hers. “That’s kinda fucked up, seeing as they just found each other.”

She tries her hardest not to cry. If she can just make it to the outside before she starts, everything will be fine. “Yeah. Well, maybe this is the end of their love story. But it was a pretty good one, don’t you think? They saved the day, twice, they grew as people, and they found love in the unlikeliest of places. Even if it never happens again, there’s a version of them that has this.” There’s a version of _us_ that has this.

“We’ll always have Paris,” Alex quotes sardonically. “Or, well, Jumanji.”

“Oh, I know that one! My grandmother used to love _Casablanca_.”

“Well then, here’s looking at you, kid.”

Alex kisses her, long, slow, and bittersweet, then walks over and shakes Nigel’s hand, dissolving into nothingness. Bethany takes a deep breath and follows.

~~~

As feared, they are all returned to their original timelines. When the four high schoolers approach ‘Freak House’, now a lavish complement to the rest of the block, they see a man get out of a car who can be none other than Alex. He sends his family inside without him and comes up to them in barely contained excitement. They catch up briefly, and before he goes back inside, he hands them a cassette tape with a wistful smile.

The major problem is they have no immediate way to play it, though Spencer suggests they head to his house. The four gather around the cassette player Spencer’s mom had lying around. When they enter the tape and press play, the whirring of the machine soon gives way to the voice of a teenage boy. “Hey guys, it’s Alex, the date is currently May 22nd, 1997, it’s been a few months but I wanted to do something to show you guys that I haven’t forgotten about you. I don’t know if you still use cassettes in the future, but in my world we call this a mixtape. I basically just copied over a bunch of songs that reminded me of you. Obviously, we’re starting things off with a classic.”

With that, Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” blasts through the speakers. They crack up laughing at the awful pun and jokingly try to skip it, at which point they remember there is no skipping, just fast-forwarding. They decide to let the whole tape play through, settling in around the kitchen table. Between each track Alex interjected his own commentary, dedicating some songs to the group and others to one or two people. Towards the end of the tape, Alex clears his throat awkwardly.

“Bethany,” the voice starts. “I wish more than anything that we could have had more time together, but I’m glad we had what we did. This next song is probably old-school to you but it’s the hot new single around here. A few days ago it came on the radio and when I heard the chorus I just couldn’t stop laughing at the irony. Well, and then that turned into crying which was kinda hard to explain since I was in the car with my dad at the time but anyway, my point is that this one is a little outside my usual genre, but I think you’ll get why I included it. It’s actually what convinced me to make this in the first place. Miss you so much, here’s looking at you, kid.”

She’s definitely heard it before—she’s pretty sure it’s by the Backstreet Boys?—but it’s not something she usually listens to. The beginning of the song doesn’t really fit their situation, but she feels her lips pull into a sad smile when she hears the prechorus:

 _I wish I could turn back time_  
_Impossible as it may seem_  
_But I wish I could so bad, baby_  
_Quit playing games with my heart_

She full-on snorts embarrassingly, which spurs the others to laugh and it just devolves from there, their raucous laughter cushioning the ache in her heart where Alex should be. He’s such a nerd.

A part of her wants to be sad that things worked out the way they did, but she remembers how content Alex looked when they finally found him, a wife and kids and everything. The boy on the tape, the one she nearly fell in love with in a video game of all places, grew up to lead a happy, healthy life. It hurts, but he turned out okay. So will she.


End file.
